


a kiss to make it better

by Caisin



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/F, Post-Season/Series 03 AU, Swan Queen Week, Swan-Mills Family, hook bashing (not sorry), hook mention (sorry), minor cooking injury
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-13
Updated: 2016-08-13
Packaged: 2018-08-08 12:10:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7757341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caisin/pseuds/Caisin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Swan Queen week day 7: physical intimacy</p><p>If Regina is really being honest about her feelings, she could just say that since everyone came back to Storybrooke, she’s gotten used to having Emma and Henry over for dinner.  She tells Emma she wants to teach her how to cook instead.  Thankfully it all works out for her anyway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a kiss to make it better

“Miss Swan, if we’re really going to give this co-parenting thing a try -”

“I think if we’re at the co-parenting stage, _Regina_ , maybe it’s time we stuck to first names.”

Regina sighs. She’s trying, she really is. But Emma must know how hard this whole sharing thing is for her. She gets flustered and her face heats up and she falls back on silly comforting things, like calling Emma ‘Miss Swan’ even though they’re far past that. At least the urge to rip out hearts has vanished.

Mostly.

She limits herself to an eye roll, which makes her rather proud.

“Alright, Em-ma,” Regina says. “As long as you will refrain from cutting me off and teasing me while we discuss our son’s future.”

Emma rocks back and forth on her feet, but presses her lips together, so Regina takes it as agreement. Whether Emma will follow through is yet to be seen.

“As I was saying, if we’re really going to do this - and I do believe this is in all of our best interests,” Regina says. Then she pauses, because she’d had this all thought out but now all she can think about is how different Emma’s teasing is than it was two years ago. How Emma is watching her from below lowered eyelashes and fidgeting and generally looking like an animal about to bolt, just like Henry still does whenever he thinks he won’t like whatever his mother has to say. Two years ago this would have been enough to set her plotting. Now it spreads warmth through her body, and she’s not sure what to make of that.

All of Emma’s movements stop when Regina says “I’m worried,” but she knows better than to stop there. “It’s not something that has me second guessing this, but I know you’re planning on moving out of the loft and that means that every other week, you’ll be the one cooking for Henry. It’s very difficult to get children to stick to well rounded eating habits…”

“I can cook!”

Regina sighs again and prepares for Emma to fly off the handle. She knew this would be a touchy subject, and honestly she’s surprised she got a sentence beyond the mention on cooking at all. It would have been nice to get everything out though.

“Having your memories in New York helped some, I won’t deny that,” Emma says, starting to move into Regina’s space. “Which, by the way, that was all me for a year; I’ve still got those skills! But that was just building on what I already knew. Maybe I’m not a fancy chef like you and your high royal standards, but I lived by myself for years. Cooking is difficult and I could probably use some help, sure. Why do people always think I’m gonna burn the kitchen down? I’m not gonna let our kid get scurvy! God!”

“Are you done?” Regina asks.

Emma deflates. “I… yes?”

“If you would have let me finish, all I was going to suggest was that you come over once a week so I can help you out a bit.”

If Regina is really being honest about her feelings (again, she’s working on it, but like sharing, feelings are difficult. Especially feelings surrounding Emma.), she could just say that since everyone came back to Storybrooke, she’s gotten used to having Emma and Henry over for dinner. Even when Henry didn’t know who she was, cooking his favorites and having Emma there to share them had been one of the few things that kept her going through that time. Those times were when she had started to see them all as a family and she doesn’t want to lose that. She also doesn’t know how to ask for it.

“Oh.”

“ _Oh_.” She can’t help the mocking tone. Reformed or not, she’s not going to let a Charming moment go passed her unremarked.

“I suppose it would be nice to do a weekly family dinner. For Henry,” Emma says and Regina can’t stop herself from smiling at the quick save. Always for Henry. “To make sure he knows we’re getting along and want this to work.”

“I’ll stop by the station this weekend then. We’ll look at schedules and figure out which day works out best.”

“Sounds good,” Emma says. Her smile is bright - too bright - and Regina has to look away.

* * *

It’s going better than Regina had dared to hope. They start out with her classic lasagne. Though she is putting enough faith in Emma to let her prepare the meat and sauce mixture, her supervision proves wise when she notices Emma being a bit conservative with the spices. She rolls her eyes and pointedly moves the red pepper flakes and fresh oregano closer to the saucepan.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Emma says and sprinkles more spices over the meat with a huff. “I can take a bit of heat.”

Regina eyes her skeptically as she takes out the lasagne dish and prepares the cheeses and noodles for layering. She doesn’t rise to the bait with scathing commentary, but she won’t deny her smirk either. This is nice though, she thinks, the sounds and smells of cooking filling the kitchen around their surprisingly comfortable silence. And for the first time in years, it’s not just her getting her hands dirty.

There had been a phase, for a few years not long before Henry had found out about his adoption and everything had gone horribly wrong, when he’d loved cooking with her. He would help her roll out dough for noodles and pastries, shred cheese, peel garlic, stand on his stool to stir while she added ingredients to the pot. He would be her little taste tester and end up with various sauces smeared across his cheeks.

He hasn’t joined her in the kitchen while she cooked other than to sit at the island to do homework since Emma brought him back from Boston, but she still has hope that one day that could change too.

A deliberate cough from behind Regina takes her away from her thoughts and she jumps. Emma is looking a little sheepish as she holds out her spoon of sauce. Dipping her head for a taste, Regina smiles warmly at the flavors.

“Up to her majesty’s standards?”

Regina schools her expression before responding, “it’s acceptable.”

But she can’t help smile back at the look of pride on Emma’s face, and they’re both exceedingly pleased when they get Henry’s thumbs up of approval later that evening.

* * *

 

Soon, once a week becomes twice a week and Henry is inviting Emma over for their monthly Friday night take out and a movie (because Regina maybe hints once or twice that Emma would enjoy it).  She even goes over to Emma's new apartment once she moves out of the loft, under the excuse of making sure Emma has a properly stocked kitchen.

She turns up at the apartment one Sunday afternoon to find Emma looking like a kicked puppy.

"What happened?"

"Henry's class is having a bake sale tomorrow, and I figured, with how well cooking has been going, how hard can it be?"  Regina rises an eyebrow to get her to continue.  Emma sighs in defeat.  "I fucked up."

She moves aside to let Regina in and leads her to the kitchen.  Expecting to find the place in shambles (and possibly on fire), Regina is slightly disappointed when she's met with a bowl of chocolate frosting and two dozen oddly short cupcakes.

"I have no idea what I did wrong," Emma says as she pokes remorsefully at one of them.

Handing it to Regina and sitting at the table with a groan, she watches as Regina takes a bite and makes a face at the texture.

"Did you remember the baking soda?"

"I don't... remember?"

Regina looks around the mess left by the oven and notices a container of baking soda hidden behind the bag of flour.  It was probably set up with everything else and promptly forgotten about.  She has made far worse errors over the years.

"Baking can be tricky," Regina says, trying to be reassuring.  Though a bit out of practice when it comes to the emotional needs of adults, she's getting far more versed in the delicate balance of encouragement and criticism that Emma responds to best.  She breaks off half of the cupcake and hands it to Emma, who makes the same face as she bites into it.  "You have to be much more exact and follow recipes a lot closer until you get the hang of it."

And that's how Emma starts showing up randomly at the manor on the weekends she doesn't have Henry for baking lessons.

The funny thing is, Regina is finding the need for excuses less and less necessary.  She has always been one to treasure the privacy and solitude of her sanctuaries.  And for the last thirty years, she has never found a haven quite like her kitchen.  As she surveys it now, with Henry trying to keep out of the way while Emma pulls pots and rice and spices out of cupboards as if she lived here, she thinks that sharing this part of herself might not be as difficult as she had always imagined.

She turns back around to keep dicing up peppers and misses Emma stumble as she steps down from the stool she'd been using to access an upper shelf.  Regina lets out a small gasp as a hand slides down her back in Emma's attempt to keep her balance.  To her surprise, she finds herself leaning into the touch instead of flinching away.  A pleasant heat seeps through her body that has nothing to do with the pre-heating oven next to her.

**Author's Note:**

> that last bit is a very tragically true story of my failed batch of cupcakes a few months ago. always remember the baking soda!
> 
> (come find me on tumblr at witchpieceoftoast)


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